Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center
Message from the Director
Welcome to the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center Civil Rights Litigation Clinic!
For over 30 years, the MacArthur Justice Center has been at the forefront of challenging injustices in the criminal legal system. Originally founded with a focus on the death penalty, our docket has grown to include the criminalization of the poor, police misconduct, discrimination in prisons and racial injustice at every phrase of the criminal legal system.
When I first started here, ten years ago, I was a young attorney fresh out of law school and having just finished a clerkship. It was at MacArthur that I learned how to be both a skilled attorney and a fierce advocate for justice.
This clinic provides a one-of-a-kind experience for law students. You will learn how to be practicing litigators by working on cases challenging the most pernicious of societal inequities. Students participate at all stages of litigation, including investigation and complaint-drafting, discovery and preparing for depositions, brief writing, and hearing and trial work. Students are essential team members on our cases.
This clinic is an integral part of our mission and our ability to do the work we do. We hope to encourage in all of our students, interns and fellows a passion to use the law to upend an unfair system. I’m continually inspired by and impressed with the perspectives, work ethic and commitment that comes from our students. The ability to practice law is an awesome privilege – and we as advocates must use that privilege to serve the community and the public interest wherever possible.
We are dedicated to the promotion of both diversity and inclusion. Students from all backgrounds and with all different types of experience are encouraged to apply and join our team.
We hope you join us!
Alexa Van Brunt
Director of the MacArthur Justice Center Clinic at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Clinical Associate Professor of Law